User:Nina McCloskey/Deforestation in Brazil

Impact on Labor

The people who are the ones physically logging and cutting down trees are not treated fairly. The field workers are barely paid minimum wages and isolated from the rest of the world. They live in uncomfortable conditions in cheap cabins close to the sight that they are working on. These workers are also put in harm's way every single day, sometimes getting very injured.

One of the workers met his demise in a tragic accident. While rolling up a cigarette, he became distracted, and a tree fell off a passing truck, fatally striking him.The injuries were so bad that he ended up passing away. The workers also speak of isolation. For example on election day during the 2016 municipal elections no one made any effort to retrieve us for voting; there was no outreach whatsoever.  This would result in the workers feeling as if they have no purpose or value to their society. The individual or individuals in charge of the field workers assert their power but not allow the field workers to leave the sight. In some cases if you do not stay in the forest you will end up losing your job. This isolated the workers from their families and loved ones.

There were some instances in the past where in Brazil people have been enslaved and forced to chop down trees for no pay. These field workers are suffering while people in higher power are living lavish lives. Now that the Brazilian government is more on top of what is going on in the Amazon there is more control over the mistreatment but there is still work to be done.